


The Morning After the Night Before

by abundantlyqueer



Series: Kissing Boys [2]
Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-08-26
Updated: 2003-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-13 01:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abundantlyqueer/pseuds/abundantlyqueer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Elijah, dear, wuz there somethin' yeh wanted tuh tell us?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Morning After the Night Before

Four hobbits and an elf sit in the makeup trailer, all having ears and wigs put on: four pairs of furry prosthetic feet and a pair of shabby pink canvas high-tops all in a row. Everyone's very quiet this morning, willing just to feel the bone-aching tiredness that comes from getting up before dawn to sit around doing nothing. The makeup artists, taking their cue from the actors, work almost in silence.  
In the chair furthest to the left, Orlando (looking more than merely bizarre with Legolas's delicately pointed ears and his own brutal mohawk haircut) holds a pad of lined paper in his lap, alternately writing and chewing the end of his pen. He's working on an elaborate farewell scene between Legolas and Aragorn at Aragorn's deathbed, featuring Legolas kissing Aragorn's cold brow with exactly the same shattered but resolute grief that Aragorn bestowed on Boromir. Right now, though, Orlando's wrestling with the unwieldy dialogue necessary to explain why, all these years later, Aragorn doesn't look any older than he did during the ring-quest. It's a lot of exposition, but somehow the thought of playing this with Viggo in wrinkly facial prosthetics and a white wig just kills it for Orlando.  
Sean, on Orlando's right, is reading a newspaper; next to him, Dom's earnestly studying a paperback copy of The Return of the King, flipping backwards and forwards between the text and the appendices every couple of minutes and making energetic notes in the margins with a stubby pencil. Billy's magazine lies neglected in his lap while he stares thoughtfully into the mirror at Elijah, on the right-hand end of the row, surveying his copy of the morning's script rewrites for Frodo.  
"What?" Elijah prompts, when he glances up and catches the reflection of Billy's shrewd gaze.  
"Ohh, nuthin," Billy says with elaborate innocence.  
Elijah makes a face and looks back at the page. Billy goes right on staring.  
"What?!" Elijah asks more forcefully, turning his head to confront Billy directly.  
"Elijah, you've got to keep still," the makeup artist working on him murmurs.  
"Sorry," Elijah says at once, bringing his head back to center and fixing his gaze on Billy's reflection in the mirror.  
"Yeh liked it, didn' yeh?" Billy demands, his tone twisting somewhere between outrage and admiration.  
Elijah doesn't have to ask what Billy means, nor do any of the others. The only one not looking at Elijah now is Orlando, who's still scribbling away tranquilly. The easy quiet of the trailer morphs into a tenser silence; now no one else is talking because no one's sure what's safe to say. Elijah, however, has finally gotten his character very clear, and has no problem finding the line.  
"Sure I liked it. Orli's a good kisser ... got a great mouth. You guys should try it," he says, his offhand ease somewhat undermined by the irrepressible smile curling his lips and the faint stain of color appearing on his cheekbones.  
"Hey, guys, y'know, Orlando may not appreciate this line of conversation," Sean says gently, returning his attention to his newspaper.  
"Orlando's got no problem man," Orlando counters mildly, still engrossed in editing the text scrawled on the page in front of him. "The prettiest girl in school thinks I've got a great mouth; I'm not gonna argue with that."  
"Elijah, dear," Billy goads, pantomiming tender concern, "wuz there something' yeh wanted tuh tell us?"  
"Orli's hot?" Elijah hazards.  
"We already know that," Orlando says complacently, glancing up to smile at his own reflection.  
"Noo, Ah meant about yer bein' gay as ah daisy," Billy corrects Elijah.  
"You don't have to be gay to think Orli's hot," Sean observes a little defensively.  
Everyone stills, then surprise gives way to explosions of laughter. Sean looks puzzled and faintly affronted.  
"Alright guys, settle down," one of the makeup artists warns. "Or you can explain to Pete why everyone with ears is late this morning."  
Everyone sits back contritely, wiping tears of mirth off their cheeks.  
"Yeh know yeh're wastin' yer time barkin' up tha' tree," Billy grins at Elijah's reflection. "He'z totally'n love wi' Viggo."  
"I'm gonna have his babies," Orlando says blithely, writing fast, "once I don't have to fit into the elf costume anymore."  
"You're all weird, deeply weird," Dom announces solemnly.  
"Ah think yeh mean queer," Billy amends, still watching Elijah.  
Elijah leans back in his chair, considering his own mirror image with approval. Everyone else (except Orlando, who's regretfully accepting that there's no internal logic in the scene that will result in Legolas getting to kiss Arwen as well as Aragorn) is trying to figure Elijah out, calculating what readjustment of the group dynamic is needed to accommodate this odd turn in his behavior. Elijah, however, nurses a growing certainty that he's broken through to a really significant insight. His reading of his character is so strong, so right, that he has to just go with it.


End file.
